Monday, April 24, 2006

Spudnuts

Blognut returns to Charlottesville, Virginia (our former home) to see Mom, Dad, friends, and Wilco - luckily, we find time to sneak away and enjoy our favorite home-town doughnut - the Spudnut.

Spudnuts309 Avon StreetCharlottesville, Virginia

In Charlottesville, the only thing more beloved than Dave Matthews (and maybe the University of Virginia) is the Spudnuts doughnut shop . This much-heralded doughnut dealer, located in Charlottesville's Belmont neighborhood, has been a local favorite since it opened in July, 1969. Founded by native Charlottesvillian Richard Wingfield, Spudnuts was originally part of a west-coast chain which only has a few remaining locations. It now sits proudly as the franchise's only east-coast branch.

As their name suggests, Spudnuts are made from another Blognut favorite, the potato. Orignally raised from mashed potatoes, followed by gelatinzed potatoes, and now from potato flour, Spudnuts have been forced to "change with the times," as Richard's daughter Lori puts it. Blognut sat down with Lori Saturday morning after the store had closed to discuss Charlottesville, her father, and doughnuts.

"Everybody loved my father," says Lori, "People didn't just come in for the doughnuts, they also came in to see him - he always knew what people needed." Sadly, Richard passed away last year at age 75, leaving many locals grief-stricken and skeptical about the future of Spudnuts. To the town's relief, and in what may be an unspoken homage to her late father, Lori and her husband plan on keeping Spudnuts going as long as they can - "We've been doing it so long it would be hard to give up," she says. Blognut could not be happier with Lori's decision.

We get the feeling that the Spudnut-Asthetic hasn't changed a bit since it opened 37 years ago. Linoleum floors, vinyl stools, and plenty of neighborhood comfort, Spudnuts exists in its own time and its own dimension. The walls are lined with original paintings by friend-of-Spudnut Dr. Jim Lincoln, a 107 year-old Oregon native who reportedly helped take some the earliest photographs of DNA and once played Chamber music with Albert Einstein. We could have stayed all day.

The Spudnuts menu includes such classics as the plain glazed, chocolate frosted, and cinnamon varieties, while also offering more Progressive-Nuts like blueberry cake, coconut, and cherry cinnamon. Blognut ordered 2 piping hot coffees and half a dozen doughnuts: 2 glazed, 2 cinnamon, and 2 chocolate covered (we wanted to try the coconut and blueberry but by noon on a Saturday the town has pretty much gobbled up all but a handfull of Nuts). We returned Monday morning on our way out of town and were able to snag a cherry cinnamon.

Blognut's taste buds may be clouded by home-town nostalgia, but Spudnuts are the finest doughnuts we've encountered in two and a half decades of Donut-Eating. The plain glazed and cinnamon are just about perfect, with the other varieties close behind. The glazed is just-sweet-enough while the cinnamon relies on a blend of its namesake and granulated sugar. Incredibly soft and moist, and just slighty potatoey, Spudnuts have created the Ideal-Nut. The cherry cinnamon is wonderful update on the more traditional cinnamon bun doughnut.

Blognut hopes that Spudnuts will continue serving as Central Virginia's most magnificent doughnut dealer for many years to come - we're already planning our next trip back.

Disclaimer: Blognut would like to apologize to Wilco. They had initially been the focus of our trip back to Virginia but have been overlooked in this post due to the over-whelming goodness of Spudnuts. The show was great and Jeff Tweedy was in a really good mood - an unexpected occurrence considering his recent stint in rehab. Their new Sonic Youth-esque noise rock sound is working well.

For the record, the donut-and-ice-cream that Sleepless mentions is called a Grillswith and was originally served at the University Diner on the Corner (sadly, no longer there, it's Cafe Europa now--they also had great french fries with mushroom gravy). Grilled glazed donuts with scoops of vanilla ice cream on top: it don't get much better in this here burning world. The Blue Moon Diner continued the tradition for a long while. Excellent intel on availability at Mel's.

I used to eat Spudnuts from a store in downtown Indianapolis when I was a kid (early 50s)and prefer them to KK's, Winchell's or Dunkin's. Sadly, Spudnut's location was turned into a Knife and Fork restaurant, owned by Hook's drugstore chain, and I thought Spudnuts was no longer in existence. I'd give just about anything for a sack of fresh Spudnuts.

I don't know how long this blog has been around but I'm going to make the 60 minute pilgrimage to Spudnuts this morning! If you have never been, don't sleep in if you are planning to go, I have been lucky enough to get the last 2 doz. once. They are so good that by the time I get back to Richmond, I might have 14 left out of 2 doz. That's if I go alone!!They have the best diner coffee too!

I dunno, my mom loved Spudnuts growing up in Seattle but hers was part of the chain(which is now headquartered in Southern California & the donuts @ the existing franchises seem to be not as good as when they were wide around 20 years ago)

I grew up on Spudnuts in Kingsville, Texas. It would be worth the drive to this shop, just to enjoy another one. Spudnuts are actually good for you. After they closed the store in Kingsville, all my friends started getting older.

Spudnuts ARE the best donuts ever. If you have never had them when they are warm you are really missing out. Try visiting the shop about 10:30 or 11:00n a.m. when their second batch is just coming out. You have to hurry though. They sell out every day.

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